Published by The University of Alabama,The University of Alabama at Birmingham,and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Feature #1The Legend of Mountain Tom Clark​by Lee Freeman

​In the years after the Civil War, the court systems of northwest Alabama and southern middle Tennessee struggled to maintain law and order as murderous guerillas and bushwhackers terrorized the countryside. The most notorious gang in the area was the Clifton Shebang, known to Lauderdale County residents as “the Buggers.” Thomas “Mountain Tom” Clark (1821-1872), a deserter from both the Union and Confederate armies, was one of the leaders of this gang. A marker in Florence, Alabama, tells the story of the outlaw Clark, his murderous record (killing 19 including a child and terrorizing helpless citizens), and the legend of his burial under Tennessee Street as punishment for his crimes. The real whereabouts of Mountain Tom’s remains, however, are unknown.

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Feature #2The Brasher-Dye Disappearance​by Pam Jones

It was raining late in the evening of March 3, 1956, when brothers Billy Howard and Robert Earl Dye and their older cousin, Dan Brasher, left a relative's house in the rural backwoods of northern Jefferson County. They drove off in Billy's 1947 green Ford for a party in Robinwood, just outside Morris, then disappeared into the Alabama night. Theories regarding the disappearance abound-from the men being murdered at the party to an execution-style shooting in a Blount County cave. A few strands of human hair fished out of an abandoned coal shaft led to speculation the men had been dumped there. The one constant in every theory was that moonshine played a pivotal role.